Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature

Douglas Farr

Wiley, 2008 - Architecture - 304 pages

A call to action and a comprehensive guide to sustainable urban design

"This book celebrates the magical power of design and of an emerging pattern of human settlement—Sustainable Urbanism—that holds the promise of strengthening the interdependence of all life on earth. . . . This book is a strategic call for leadership in the design and development of the places where Americans live, work, and play."
—From the Preface

Written by the chair of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee, Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is both an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to "Sustainable Urbanism"—the growing sustainable design convergence that integrates walkable and diverse places with high-performance infrastructure and buildings.

Providing a historical perspective on the standards and regulations that got us and keep us on the course toward sprawl and unsustainable development, along with earlier attempts at reform, Douglas Farr makes a powerful case for Sustainable Urbanism, showing how architects and urban designers need to shape the built environment for the benefit of both humans and nature. He then explains how to implement Sustainable Urbanism in cities, towns, and neighbor-hoods through coordinated leadership and communication. Essays written by Farr and others delve into such issues as:

• Increasing sustainability through density

• Integrating transportation and land use in an auto-dependent era

• Creating sustainable neighborhoods with walk-to-work neighborhood centers of locally owned businesses, share cars on every block, and walkable neighborhoods

• The health and environmental benefits of linking humans to nature, including walk-to open spaces, neighborhood stormwater systems and waste treatment, and food production

• High-performance buildings and neighborhood-scale infrastructure including district energy systems

Enriching the argument are in-depth case studies in Sustainable Urbanism, from BedZED in London, England, and Newington in Sydney, Australia, to New Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, California, and Dongtan, Shanghai, China. An epilogue looks to the future of Sustainable Urbanism over the next 200 years.

At once solidly researched and passionately argued, Sustainable Urbanism is the ideal guidebook for urban designers, planners, and architects who are eager to make a positive impact on our—and our descendants'—buildings, cities, and lives.

Contents

• Part Four: 13
• The Case for Sustainable Urbanism: 16
• Setting the Stage for Sustainable Urbanism: 28

About the author

Douglas Farr, an architect and urban designer, is the founding principal and president of Farr Associates. He has served as cochair of the Environmental Task Force of the Congress for the New Urbanism, chair of the AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment, and chair of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee. Farr Associates is a Chicago-based firm focused on sustainable design in architecture and urban design. Founded in 1990, Farr Associates was the first architecture firm in the world to have designed at least two buildings to be certified with a LEED Platinum rating: the Chicago Center for Green Technology and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, also in Chicago. The firm designed its own office in the historic Monadnock Building as a LEED for Commercial Interiors pilot project.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature; Wiley book on sustainable design
• Author: Douglas Farr
• Editor: Douglas Farr
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Wiley, 2008
• Original from: the University of California
• Digitized: Nov 6, 2009
• ISBN: 047177751X, 9780471777519
• Length: 304 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / Design, Drafting, Drawing & Presentation; Architecture / General; Architecture / Sustainability & Green Design; Architecture / Urban & Land Use Planning